Diah’s “apology stream” concept ended with a donation message that touched her one and only forbidden topic—pineapple pizza.
The neatly dressed suit and green chroma key background shrank away, disappearing into the void.
“Phew, that was close. I almost went down a rabbit hole~.”
“Oh, I see some Noeulis spreading strange rumors again. Be careful, or the mage will swing their hammer~!”
As the chat became increasingly chaotic, Diah moved her mouse to the chat window, pulling up a few messages to display on the stream screen.
While she would’ve liked to highlight the record of the most notorious Noeuli, ekdus7, unfortunately, they weren’t online.
So instead, she displayed the relatively less offensive logs of another Noeuli.
[kskoo11] - Diah’s office look, wow wow.
[kskoo11] - Words alone aren’t enough. Show us sincerity. Let’s go, let’s go.
[kskoo11] - Every time we speak, it’s a ban.ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Diah’s expression went completely blank as she stared at the logs in silence.
With a slight mouse movement, she refreshed the chat.
[kskoo11] - Im sorrrryyyyy.
[kskoo11] - I was wrong.
Finally, she switched her model back to a smiling expression and closed the chat logs.
For the next 10 minutes, she “investigated” other Noeulis’ chat histories. Of course, no one was actually banned.
From the start, any truly problematic comments had already been cut down by her stream moderators.
With her point about “freedom of speech” sufficiently demonstrated, Diah cheerfully concluded:
“If I let Noeulis say whatever they want, it’d probably be doomsday~.”
In her usual chipper tone, she extinguished the flames in the chat.
But then, another donation message arrived to put her in an awkward position.
: So, how did Lee Ha-eun look in real life?
There was no denying that Diah had been at the festival. The donor’s assumption—that Diah must have seen Ha-eun in person—was only natural.
After all, Diah had often claimed her looks were on par with someone like Ha-eun. Asking her opinion on Ha-eun’s real-life appearance wasn’t unreasonable.
For Ha-eun, it was an impossibly awkward question.
She couldn’t say anything critical or overly complimentary about Ha-eun’s appearance.
If Diah praised Ha-eun’s looks, it would be the same as Ha-eun complimenting herself. This would surely give Illusionary Realm members endless material to tease her with.
But if Diah downplayed Ha-eun’s appearance, it would undermine her earlier “apology” stream and effectively insult her own looks.
It was a true dilemma.
Still, the flow of the stream left Ha-eun with no real choice.
“She… she was super pretty! And she sang so well, too!”
In the end, Ha-eun ended up praising her own performance.
Fortunately, the chat didn’t seem suspicious and simply rode the wave of Diah’s remarks.
“…I really hope I don’t get sued for this level of praise….”
Having narrowly survived another crisis, the conversation shifted to discussing other performers at the festival.
As her eyelids grew heavier, Ha-eun eventually wrapped up the stream and called it a night.
The real problem came later, when she noticed that the Illusionary Realm group chat had become extremely active.
With over 300 unread messages in the group chat, Ha-eun hesitated before checking it. Unsurprisingly, the scene unfolded exactly as she had predicted.
[Park Mi-so (Mile)] - (Diah’s stream clip)
[Park Mi-so (Mile)] - Starting now, Diah officially showers Ha-eun with praise!
[Lee Ye-na (Yuna)] - LOL
[Lee Ye-na (Yuna)] - So that’s how it is~ Ha-eun thinks she’s super pretty and talented, huh?
[Kim Eun-hye (Ria)] - Why is she completely right, though?
[Jung Maria (Cream)] - (Laughing hedgehog emoji)
[Jung Maria (Cream)] - I like the confidence, Ha-eun.
It was exactly the scene Ha-eun had feared.
Too exhausted to type out an explanation, she ended up falling asleep with her phone buzzing in her hand.
By the time she woke up early the next morning, the teasing messages had piled up to an irreversible degree.
“Oh, this place is really lively too.”
“Last year, it rained, so I didn’t notice, but with the sun out, it’s like a completely different place.”
Even after Doublely and Ha-eun’s first successful festival performance, their appearances at university festivals continued.
The university they had just arrived at was the third one Ha-eun had visited.
This was also the university Ha-eun was most eager to attend, and the campus was buzzing with the vibrant energy unique to festivals.
All around, students wearing the university jackets Ha-eun longed to try on were milling about.
However, despite Ha-eun’s desire to explore the campus, the reality was far less accommodating.
Once again, it was clear that the crowd would recognize her and swarm around, making it nearly impossible to even walk, let alone enjoy the festival.
“…I heard the grilled chicken skewers here are amazing.”
Looking longingly at the food booths in the distance, Ha-eun could only swallow her dry spit.
And then, almost immediately—
“Then let’s go get some.”
“You have to go before the line gets too long. Let’s hurry!”
Without any explanation, Lee Jun and Lee Gun-yeol, who were supposed to head to rehearsal, rushed toward the food booths.
Left with no choice, Ha-eun followed after them.
When they arrived at the chicken skewer booth Ha-eun had been eyeing, as expected, all eyes turned to Ha-eun and Doublely.
But Lee Jun and Lee Gun-yeol paid no attention to the stares.
“I’ll take the spiciest. What about you, Ha-eun?”
“Alright. Four spicy and two salted, please~.”
As students aimed their phone cameras at them, Lee Jun and Lee Gun-yeol casually took their skewers and sat down at a table designated for eating.
“Ha-eun, sit down too.”
“Oh, autographs will have to wait a bit—we’ll do it after we finish eating~.”
They seated Ha-eun between them and began eating without a care for the onlookers.
Surprised by how nonchalant they were, Ha-eun found herself hesitating.
But with the famously delicious chicken skewers right in front of her, the curious stares from the crowd faded into the background.
‘Maybe it’s because there are three of us…?’
Eventually, Ha-eun grabbed a plastic fork and took a bite, following their lead.
Surprisingly, the two continued moving from booth to booth, sampling various foods.
They greeted students who recognized them with friendly waves but didn’t seem overly concerned about the attention.
Thanks to their casual approach, Ha-eun also managed to try several delicious dishes without feeling too overwhelmed.
“Yeah? Want another one?”
“No, it’s just… never mind.”
Ha-eun couldn’t quite understand why things felt so much easier when she was with them. Knowing that the two had joined her to make the festival more enjoyable, she quietly kept pace with them.
‘Maybe it’s because they’ve done so many variety shows….’
Thanks to them, Ha-eun had a chance to enjoy plenty of festival food.
Once they returned to the waiting room, Ha-eun finally expressed her gratitude.
“I would’ve felt too self-conscious on my own, but thanks to you guys, I got to eat my fill for the first time today. Thank you.”
But instead of their usual playful banter, their response carried a hint of sincerity.
“You don’t have to worry so much about what people think. It’s not like you’ve done anything wrong.”
“Even if you accidentally get sauce on your chin, there are tons of people who’d find it charming. Seriously.”
It seemed they were offering advice on a personal concern Ha-eun had shared with them a few days ago.
Perhaps it was proof that adults were, well, adults.
The concert began about two hours later.
While the performance itself wasn’t too different from their previous ones, the audience’s response was exceptionally enthusiastic.
Then, toward the end of the concert—
“Ah, ah. Excuse me, everyone. Ha-eun, could you come up to the front for a moment?”
Lee Gun-yeol, who had been testing his mic, suddenly called Ha-eun to the stage.
“Did you know, everyone~? This girl really wants to attend this university!”
Without so much as a grain of prior discussion, Lee Gun-yeol sprang a surprise on Ha-eun.
Flustered and unsure how to react, Ha-eun stood frozen as Lee Jun chimed in.
“Our Ha-eun is also a great student! Can we get a cheer to help her become your junior next year~?”
When Lee Jun aimed his mic at the audience, the response was deafening.
The loud cheers and messages of support directed solely at Ha-eun left her speechless.
But oddly enough, it didn’t feel bad.
If anything, she felt slightly elated.
“…If, by chance—really, just by chance—I do end up as a freshman here next year.”
Ha-eun raised her handheld mic with a smile.
“I promise to perform for free. Full-time, encore included.”
The crowd erupted in cheers again.
That moment became one of Ha-eun’s biggest motivations.
It wasn’t just about building the “smart celebrity” image she had initially aimed for—it inspired her to aim even higher.
“By the way, this won’t cause any issues later, right? Like people accusing me of demanding special treatment or something.”
“That wouldn’t fly these days.”
“Nope. Even lip service from a celebrity doesn’t lead to special treatment anymore. Better study hard~!”
“…This is the first time I’ve heard anyone talk about studying on stage.”